


Safe

by Miyuki_scourgeofthefirenation



Series: That Zukka Teacher AU [2]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Azula - Freeform, But like it's okay, DRUK, Domestic Fluff, Family Fluff, Fluff, Gen, Hakoda - Freeform, I promise, Katara - Freeform, M/M, Nightmares, POV Sokka (Avatar), Storms, as a cat - Freeform, original i know
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-20
Updated: 2020-09-20
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:06:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26562598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miyuki_scourgeofthefirenation/pseuds/Miyuki_scourgeofthefirenation
Summary: Izumi has a nightmare and is comforted by Sokka and Zuko. Pure unadulterated family feels and fluff.~All works in the series, while within the same universe, can be understood and enjoyed as standalone fics!
Relationships: Izumi & Sokka (Avatar), Izumi & Zuko (Avatar), Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: That Zukka Teacher AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1829605
Comments: 23
Kudos: 224





	Safe

**Author's Note:**

> This is fluff, because I wanted to write something short and sweet and fluffy. There's discussion of nightmares, but in a comforting way. I hope you like!
> 
> This is part of the Teacher AU I have, but there isn't any mention of their jobs in this fic. Izumi is around 3-4 years old here.

“Come on! Time for sleep!” Sokka grinned down at his daughter before sweeping her up into his arms.

“No! I still playing!” Izumi pouted, her little face scrunched up as she reached back towards the floor where her building blocks lay. Sokka’s husband Zuko had already begun placing the blocks back into the container they kept them in to keep the cat from wreaking havoc in the middle of the night.

Druk was a very sweet cat, but also prone to try and make as much of a mess and as much noise as possible in the middle of the night. Though that could just be a cat thing. All the members of the cat internet groups Sokka was part of seemed to often have similar problems. And he was part of a lot of those groups, though he would never admit it to anyone besides Zuko.

“Well, how about Bibble comes with you to bed?” Zuko asked, hauling himself up off the floor and grabbing Izumi’s stuffed seahorse from where it lay on the couch.

“But- blocks...” Izumi waved her left hand towards where the container of blocks had been placed back into the small shelving unit that held her different toys. Her right hand absently clenched and unclenched itself in Sokka’s shirt.

“I know you love your blocks, they’re so cool how could you not?” Sokka said, leaning his face closer to where he held her in his arms. “But think about how much it’ll hurt if you roll over into them when you’re sleeping.”

Izumi frowned, clearly thinking about this possibility for the first time. “I don’ wanna hurt.”

Zuko bit back a laugh, stepping closer to them. “We don’t want that either. But see how soft Bibble is?” He lightly rubbed the side of the green seahorse against Izumi‘s cheek. She giggled, twisting to try and grab the stuffed animal. “He’s a much better option for a sleep friend than the blocks.”

“Okay,” Izumi relented, grabbing Bibble out of Zuko’s hands and hugging him close to her body. Zuko and Sokka grinned at her and then at each other. She let out a long yawn, and burrowed herself into Sokka’s side. “Sleep now,” she declared, and just like that the matter was settled.

* * *

Zuko and Sokka were startled awake in the middle of the night, not because of the mischievous actions of the cat, but rather due to a loud crack of thunder shaking them out of their sleep.

“Gahhh,” Zuko groaned, rolling closer to nestle himself up against Sokka.

“Mmmm, not scared of a little storm are you?” Sokka murmured sleepily in his ear.

Zuko scoffed, “If I was more awake I’d be offended by that.”

“Well then, if you’re not scared I guess you don’t need my comfort,” Sokka said, deliberately rolling away from Zuko.

“I can pretend though,” Zuko muttered quickly, his hand reaching over to latch around Sokka’s arm and pull him back. Sokka laughed quietly to himself, moving to oblige his husband.

Just as they were beginning to fall back asleep, a bright flash of lightning illuminated the room. Sokka nearly jumped out of his skin as the door creaked open right at the same moment. Zuko snickered at him, clearly enjoying Sokka getting his karma for teasing him. Sokka leveled a glare at his husband.

The two broke eye contact and looked back towards the door, watching as a small figure wearing a red and yellow flowered nightgown darted forward towards them with the next clap of thunder.

Sokka immediately took in his daughter’s tear streaked face as she hurried to the side of the bed. She clutched Bibble in her small hands tightly, as if the stuffed seahorse was a lifeline. His stomach gave a horrible lurch as it always did whenever Izumi was in pain or sad. He wanted to protect her from everything, and hated it when he couldn’t.

“Pumpkin, what is it?” he asked, sitting up and ushering her onto the bed.

Zuko wore a similar expression to what Sokka imagined his must be right then, concern and a bit of pain at seeing their daughter upset. “What’s wrong?” he asked as he began to trace light circles on Izumi’s back. She had moved herself between them and flopped face down on their blanket. Her little body shuddered a bit from crying.

“I-“ her voice was muffled in the light grey fabric, “-nightmare.”

“Oh, I’m sorry Pumpkin,” Sokka murmured while Zuko continued to rub soothing circles onto her back. “Do you want to tell me and Dad about it? Maybe we could help.”

Izumi didn’t move for a moment, hiccupping as she worked on stopping her crying.

“Take your time,” Zuko said encouragingly. After a bit Izumi managed to sit up. Wordlessly Sokka moved, settling back to lay down again, with Izumi positioned between him and Zuko in the bed. Zuko understood and lay back down himself, pulling the covers back over the little family as he did so. Now Izumi had both her parents leaned in towards her, protecting her on both sides.

“There was a big thing,” she started to speak. “It made a really bad, scary loud sound. And it rolled over people. The people would be rolled over and not come back. And when it rolled and the people went away it made a light. And it was rolling over ev’body. Grampa and Aun Zula and Aun Katara, _ev’body!_ ” She started to tear up again, clearly from the vivid memory of the nightmare. “And it was gonna roll over you next,” her head whipped back and forth between Sokka and Zuko, as if to reassure herself that they were fine and not in any danger. She continued, “and then I woke up and it was loud and bright and-“ she trailed off, shaking a bit and looking around the room as another bolt of lightning struck somewhere.

“That sounds very scary,” Zuko said solemnly, leaning forward to kiss her forehead. “I promise you that me and your Pa are just fine and not rolled over.”

“Yeah,” Sokka chimed in, “And I’m sure Grandpa and Aunt Azula and Aunt Katara and everybody else are all safe and sleeping just fine at their homes. We can call in the morning just to make sure.” He brushed Izumi’s dark black hair away from her face where it had fallen. She was currently looking down at the seahorse she still held tightly in her hands. “Does that sound good?”

Izumi nodded, burrowing deeper under the blanket. Her eyes were already starting to drift closed again.

Sokka chuckled and glanced over at Zuko, who gave him a soft smile. They both gazed fondly at their daughter, sleep starting to claim them as well.

“You’re safe,” Sokka murmured into Izumi’s hair as he heard his daughter’s and husband’s breathing become deep and steady. “Goodnight pumpkin.”

**Author's Note:**

> Did you catch which ICON of film I named Izumi's seahorse after?
> 
> If you liked it you could drop a kudos or comment. That would be coolio.  
> ~  
> Follow me on Tumblr if you wanna! @miyuki-scourgeofthefirenation  
> I take fic requests, though I make no promises about timeliness in fulfilling them. Hit me up on Tumblr and we can talk about it. No NSFW. Don’t ask, it’s not gonna happen.  
> I upload for ATLA on Sundays!


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